French

Homemade Baguettes

September 12, 2010 by Charles 1 Comment

There’s a certain moment in the bread-baking process where you remember exactly why you spent all that time kneading, crafting, and waiting.

It’s not the moment you take the bread out of the oven, or the moment you finally bite into a slice. It’s several minutes before that time. It’s the moment when you perk up, and notice that your entire apartment smells of freshly baking bread. It’s that moment, above any other, that reminds me why I enjoy the bread-baking process.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt …

Rhubarb Creme Brulee

May 30, 2010 by Charles 2 Comments

Like any man, I love my gadgets.

Three years ago, I moved into my current apartment. A few days after the move-in, the place barely looked inhabited. I had only a bed, a bookshelf, and a desk in my new place. At the time, I had been uncertain how long I would be in Saint Louis, and the thought of another quick move had encouraged a minimalistic lifestyle. I had no couch, no chairs, and little cookware. I also had no television.

Four weeks later – or should I say two paychecks later – I was ready to spruce up the apartment. I scoured the Internet, looking for the right price for the right item. I searched a number of different stores in the bi-state area. If Missouri did not have what I wanted, I was happy to head to Illinois. And that’s where I ultimately went.

One Saturday morning, I called the Target store in Belleville, Illinois, to confirm that I was coming. …

Cinnamon Message Meringues

May 24, 2010 by Charles 3 Comments

This past weekend, Caitlin graduated from law school. But she didn’t just graduate; she graduated with style, earning a number of academic honors and awards.

But a few days before the graduation, I found myself sitting around with a lot of extra egg whites (you’ll see why in a few days). Rather than toss perfectly good egg whites, I decided to make meringues. And rather than make the simple spiral meringues, I decided to spice them up a bit — literally and figuratively!

After a healthy dash of cinnamon, and a few twirls from my piping bag, …

Madeleines

May 9, 2010 by Charles 6 Comments

French recipes are, understandably, often steeped in history. The nation is as proud of its culinary traditions as it is of its epistolary and philosophical ones. It’s why the incursion of soft drinks and hamburgers are as noxious as the incursion of English words like “le leader,” “le power” and “le hot-dog.” It’s why Jose Bove can become a national icon for burning down a McDonalds, and why Maria Antoinette’s remarks about brioche could topple a monarch. The evolution of French culture and identity can be easily traced along the x-axis of language, and y-axis of cooking.

The center of this graph, the 0,0 point, might well be Marcel Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, or The Remembrance of Things Past. In one section…

Peach and Plum Clafoutis

August 2, 2009 by Charles 4 Comments

I have an impatient streak. It’s why I don’t play golf, and why I can’t read music. It’s why I prefer talking to texting, and why I bring work home. It might also be why I scheduled this post to publish while on vacation. So when things take longer than I think they should, I get frustrated. And when things don’t work out the first time, to say nothing of the second time, I get equally frustrated.

In the kitchen, however, I’m a little more forgiving. In the kitchen, I’m usually willing to forgive a first mishap, and to chalk it up as a culinary rough draft. Some of my recipes even look like the galleys of a novel, with the characteristic cross-outs and line-edits. Ingredients are substituted or subtracted like unwanted sentences, cooking times expand or contract like secondary characters, and quantities increase or decrease as if page numbers.

As writing is to cooking, I’m willing to work through a few rough drafts. And this recipe took more than a few. In all, …